A Modern Declaration of Love
by cloverhand
Summary: Danny waits with CJ to hear news about Zoey Bartlett. CJ/Danny, with a Josh cameo. A missing scene from episode two of Season Five, "The Dogs of War." Spoilers up to that episode, especially for the end of S4/


My third Trope Bingo ficlet, for the trope "celebratory kiss." This is a CJ/Danny missing scene from ep. 5x02 "The Dogs of War," in which CJ and Danny wait to hear news about Zoey's kidnapping.

Title is derived from the Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, "A Modern Declaration." You should look it up. It's excellent.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or anything mentioned in this transformative fanwork, nor do I claim to, nor do I profit from this in any way.

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Danny was in her office again, which CJ supposed wasn't exactly an extraordinary circumstance. He tended to worm his way in there any time he had a chance. Danny was irritating that way.

This time, he was seated in front of her desk with a fond smile on his face, watching as she paced back and forth behind her desk, tense and stiff like a wind-up toy.

"CJ," Danny finally interrupted the silence of her solitary march. "Really hate to tell you this, but pacing isn't going to fix anything."

"Don't be stupid, Danny. Of course it's not!" CJ snapped, her nerves wrapped as tight as piano wire around her spine. From the moment they had learned of Zoey's kidnapping a few days ago, everybody in the White House had hung in a state of almost suspended animation, as if there was no world beyond the White House's doors, afraid if they stopped moving or working in an endless loop, everything would collapse. Everyone except Danny, it seemed, because Danny was leaning back in her desk chair, no sign of worry on his face.

"There is literally nothing of value that I could possibly hope to do in this situation, so I am choosing to pace because this is an appropriate time to be tense and stressed. Get it, nimrod?"

"Yeah," Danny drawled. "I get it. You want to be tense."

"Precisely, Daniel!" CJ cried, whirling on her heel to face him. "Now is the exact perfect time to be tense! The president's daughter has been kidnapped! Who among us isn't a little stressed?"

"CJ," Danny spoke slowly, bracing his elbows on his knees and leaning forward to look her in the face. "You've got to calm down. I get it, CJ, you're really worried, and you've got every reason to be, but that's not gonna help Zoey or President Bartlett, and that's not gonna help you."

"God, Danny! How are you so calm? It's like you don't even care!"

"Gee, CJ I don't know!" Danny snapped back, losing hold of his forced calm. "Maybe I'm trying to be calm because _somebody _around here has gotta stay calm, and it sure as hell isn't about to be you! Panicking isn't going to make anything better, so I'm not about to pretend it will!"

"You know, some days I really could just punch you right in the face, Danny," CJ snapped, turning back to pace beside her desk.

"You would not be the first woman to tell me that," Danny chuckled weakly, lapsing back into his previous calm.

CJ ignored him, focusing on putting one foot before the other, making lines straighter than spines and keeping her paces locked in their length. She could ignore Danny easily, she had a substantial amount of practice, but it was harder to ignore the looming question of Zoey's safety. There were two ways this story could play out, and CJ was desperately hoping for the first scenario, because the second, the one where Zoey died, was unbearable.

"CJ, listen," Danny tried again, his voice pitched low. "I'm worried too, everyone's worried, but you're not making anything better. You're just-"

"Thank you, Danny," CJ cut him off in a measured voice, words steady as beats from a metronome. She turned once more to face him, leaning back against her heavy, wooden desk, bracing her palms against its surface, fingers curling up to grasp the edge of the desk like a safety rail. "I appreciate you being here for me and that you're trying to help, but I would appreciate it even more if you would stop telling me how to deal with my worry. You handle stress by sitting still and trying to be calm, fine. I handle it by moving and by thinking about the problem.

"So I'll let you handle this your way, and you can let me handle this my way? Okay?" She smiled at him softly to take the sting off of her words and Danny nodded slowly.

"You got it, CJ."

CJ smiled briefly at Danny again, just a wan flash of lips and teeth, and rose to her feet again. Pacing was deeply unexciting, but it was better than sitting still. She could time her steps, match each footfall to the tick of her office clock, to a beat of her pounding heart, to Danny's steady breaths, and she could count her steps, count how many it took to reach the edge of her desk and back to her office door, beat her carefully numbered footsteps against the ground like beats of a bass drum or the steady clank and whir of an engine.

CJ focused entirely on the rhythm of her feet, drowning out worries about how Zoey was doing, the President's health in the face of his daughter's kidnapping, and the five missing Bahi sleeper agents. She counted out step after step, forgetting that Danny sat just feet away from her, that there were another 50 of so members of the Press Corps waiting for a story just a few rooms away, that the American public sat crowded around TV sets to watch the story of Zoey's kidnapping unfold excruciatingly slowly.

"CJ," Danny called, grabbing her arm. He looked both relieved and bemused and the tiniest bit annoyed, as if he had been trying to get her attention for some time now. CJ would have felt somewhat embarrassed that she had zoned out so completely, but she didn't have time to, because Danny grinned again and said, "They found Zoey. She's shaken up and a little bruised, broken arm, I think—but she's all right. Zoey's alright."

CJ laughed, head thrown back and eyes crinkling at the edges, pleased and thrilled and relieved by the news. Danny watched her fondly, her brilliant smile making his stomach churn pleasantly, before she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him without warning. It was the first time they had kissed since their kiss at the Christmas Eve press briefing and CJ wanted to cherish the moment, wrap it in her mind like an envelope with edges pressed tight and sharp to hold the details in. Danny's mouth was warm against hers, his beard rough between her fingers, and, when they settled familiarly upon her hips, his hands were comfortable, like the touch of an old lover.

"Thank God," CJ murmured when she pulled back from the kiss, letting her hands linger upon him.

"Oh, I know I just did," Danny smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

"You are completely insufferable," CJ teased, grinning madly at Danny until she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat in the doorway of her office.

"Uh, yeah," Josh announced, leaning against her door jamb with a smug expression on his face that CJ didn't like one bit. "I'm still here."

"About that, Joshua," CJ scowled, shoving Danny away as easily as she would swat a fly. "What exactly are you doing lurking in my office? I believe you have an office of your own for that sort of thing."

"I just came to share the good news, but it seems like you've got a little news of your own to share with the class," Josh laughed and CJ held her neck straight and forced herself not to blush, refusing to give Josh the satisfaction of embarrassing her.

"Yeah, well, maybe I do, Joshua," CJ replied imperiously and, beside her, Danny looked shocked and, in front of her, Josh looked taken aback, but CJ didn't really care. Everybody else was making lives for themselves (Toby was even making himself a family) and she didn't see why she should be any different. Maybe it was time for her to be allowed to be in love with Danny Concannon.

They had spent so damn long dancing around a relationship, five years now since they first fell in love, and maybe it was time to play a new tune. She was still Press Secretary (and that wasn't something she would ever give up, even for Danny) but Danny hadn't been a White House reporter for some time now. Anybody who wanted to say that the White House Press Secretary couldn't date the Washington Post's international affairs correspondent could look her in the face and tell her why, and CJ wasn't confident that too many people would be up for that.

It was the 21st century, and CJ could have a career and a life, and she could be in charge of both. She could date whoever she damn well wanted to date, even if it was Danny Concannon. Leo wasn't going to like it and the press would have a field day, but CJ didn't care. She was making her choice, right here in her office, with Danny still looking pleasantly surprised and Josh still looking more than a little taken aback. Zoey was safe, and Josh had just watched her kiss Danny, and there was no White House/Press Corps conflict of interest, so CJ was making a choice, and, for the first time since moving into this office, she was choosing her own life. She slipped her hand into Danny's and grinned at the pleased surprise on his face. CJ squeezed his hand and smiled; that right there was one hell of a choice, and it felt pretty damn good.

"I'm seeing Danny, Joshua," CJ announced with a smile, chin high and eyes clear, and she could just feel Danny tense in surprise through their clasped hands.

"Really?" he asked in shock, sounding anything but unpleased.

"Really," CJ smiled, and that was that.

fin.

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A/N: Please review! I can't improve as a writer if you don't tell me what I'm doing right and wrong!


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